Mutants: Xavier vs. Magneto
 

Yup. Talkin' 'bout those damn dirty muties.

For those who don't read comics (or watch mediocre movies), Mutants are humans in the X-Men universe who are born with a certain "mutant gene" that gifts them with random innate abilities. Certain Mutant supremacists have dubbed themselves "Homo Superior", and consider themselves to be the next step of humanity's evolutionary path. Other Mutants just consider themselves to be no better than anyone else, or possibly even worse off if their powers are detrimental rather than beneficial. And the vanilla humans are naturally split into camps of varying tolerance, where some accept them wholeheartedly, others believe they should be heavily monitored, and others still won't be happy until the "mutant threat" has been wiped out entirely.

So, if you were living in a world like this, where do you think you would stand on the topic of Mutants? On the one hand, they're people, and as much entitled to a life as anyone else. On the other hand, their various powers often make them dangerous at best, and hilariously lethal at worst. The very existence of certain Mutants poses a global threat. There's also the issue of Mutant supremacists (mainly The Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto) stirring things up with acts of terrorism, and even attempts at a genocide of all of regular humanity. In fact, though I'm too lazy to google it, iirc in the original Civil War event it was a Mutant losing control of their powers and killing a bunch of people that sparked the Superhero Registration Act.

Is it reasonable for Mutants to register themselves and their powers? Should Mutants be contained, or even neutralized? Is it reasonable for Mutants to assert dominance over regular humanity (i.e. are they actually superior, the next evolutionary step, etc.?)?

Basically, it all boils down to two major camps:

Charles Xavier and his X-Men, who believe that every human, whether Mutant or not, has a right to live, and that in spite of all the bullshit in the world Mutants and regular humans have proven time and again that they can coexist, even if they have to make tough compromises, suffer through humiliation, and jump through whatever legal hoops politicians throw at them in order to make slow progress.

Magneto, leader of The Brotherhood, who believes that humanity has violently proven time and again that coexistence is inherently impossible, and therefore Mutants are fully justified in destroying vanilla humanity before it destroys them.

Which side would you support?

If I'm a human then mutants are clearly a threat to be neutralized. Many is the time (e.g. Proteus, Phoenix, Magneto, etc) that an omega level mutant has proven that they could very well cause destruction on a level that's at least as horrific as an atomic bomb, except the atomic bomb is in the hands of an often teenage or early 20s person with the massive existential crisis of suddenly being a "freak" to make them too unstable to reasonably contain. What could you possibly do but kill them all? X-Men makes us question this solution simply because it is a comic book and deals in elevated comic book morals no matter how much it tries to be realistic, but truthfully they are a time bomb, and there's no telling if a mutant might come into existence whose power is simply to blow up the Earth. Kill them.

Of course if I'm a mutant I'm not about to sit down and be murdered by Sentinels, and humanity's penchant for genocide against people with far far far far far less differences and supposed threat levels than even mid-level mutants makes it clear that they simply can not be trusted to accept mutants out of the kindness of their hearts. They will kill you. No words or deeds you can muster will stop the genocide so you might as well side with Magneto because Professor X is delusional in the extreme.

Although there's also the issue that "normal" mutants would still be subject to omega level mutants they'd be unable to contain (especially since this wouldn't be a comic book and there'd be very little assurance that the X-Men could win against every single threat that could potentially wipe out all human or mutant life) so even mutants would be unable to escape the necessity to murder certain members of their kind, potentially to the point that they'd be forced to look for a cure simply to avoid extinction.

Not a clue. Curious though, are the questions posed in the OP a big part of the comics? Never considered the potential for politics in a super hero comic, but I'd probably really enjoy it, if taken seriously.

@Batlord

But since the mutant gene isn't 100% hereditary, would it even be possible one way or the other to completely wipe out either side? Kill every Mutant or human, and more will pop up. So I think a compromise where Mutants are tested at birth and monitored would make the most sense, which is something Xavier would be way more receptive to than Magneto. Mutants with low-mid level powers are basically people with guns. Have them register, mentally assessed, and so on. Mutants with strong powers are basically people with nukes. Even if society were %100 Magneto worshipping muties, free from humanity and registration, just one of these Mutants could destroy all of civilation by mistake. Therefore, a coexistance via registration is safer for both sides anyway.

Low level Mutants could still pretty much roam free. After all, this is a world where Spiderman swings around New York, and %90 of the time only JJJ gives a shit about monitoring him. Nobody cares about the Cyphers and Matter Eater Lads. But it would be nice if the Jean Greys and Emma Frosts of the world were under wraps. Which, incidentally, would result in Xavier himself being subject to imprisonment, but hey.

Then again, maybe the Mutants could just make like the Inhumans and fuck off to the moon.

Being human and recognizing superiority, I would work with willing mutants and humans to see how we could proliferate the mutant genes, trying to isolate the genes and insert them into human, thus turning myself into a mutant of my own design.

I think it is REASONABLE to ask mutants to register VOLUNTARILY, but I wouldn't use force or violence to enforce it.

We should teach humans and mutants that mutations and powers should be used for GOOD, giving them examples and trying our best to set everyone on the benevolent path.

The fact that Marvel has chosen to create a binary universe [Professor Xavier vs Magneto] is akin to the bullshit 2-party political system. Giving people the ILLUSION of choice. There are more than 2 choices.

%40 of X-Men is young adult/teenage angst. %40 is anti/pro Mutant politics. %10 is world saving. And the last %10 is awkward sex.

Even if you could identify every single mutant from birth you still couldn't know what their powers would be until they manifested. How do you monitor a world killer mutant? From second 1 that they manifested they'd be a threat to an extent that it could potentially be physically impossible to step in and imprison or reason with them. The only workable solution would be to exterminate the entire population and come up with a cure that would hopefully eradicate the gene from existence. Put something in the water or the air or something. Hell, committing genocide even against every normal human with the gene would be preferable to letting them live out of the kindness of humanity's heart. But coexistence is a complete nonstarter no matter how touchy feely liberal you were.

Great. I CHOOSE to have the power to kill all life on earth with my sneezes. And have fun convincing genocidal terrorists with super powers to "voluntarily register". Also, have fun when a Mutant who didn't even realize they were a Mutant because they weren't tested and registered accidentally kills a bunch of power with their laserbeam burps.

In this case, though personal nuance certainly varies, there really are only two camps. You either believe Mutants and humans can live together, or you don't. Everything else comes later.

Maybe babies that test positive for the Mutant gene could be sent to and raised in some society seperated from our planet. When their powers manifest, then they can be further assessed, and maybe allowed to travel. The mentally sound and non-apocalyptic could offer a lot to humanity if given freedom. Till then, they can play video games on the moon with Black Bolt and Medusa. Hell, let the Kree babysit them. They love that shit, and they've got the tech to control them.

I think the bigger question is, why the **** is Ori using percentage marks IN FRONT OF THE NUMBERS instead of behind? %100? Really? You a mutant, boy?

It's one of my sexy quirks. I also have perky nipples.

I know. :love:

I absolutely beyond all sense recommend Grant Morrison's New X-Men run. In the early 2000s it for the first time posited a world where the mutant population had achieved a level of millions that had developed their own enclaves in society much like Chinatown. They had their own subculture, their own music, and even subversive elements in human society much like a punk movement (Morrison was in a punk band in the 70's so that makes total sense.) The question was moved from "Mutant survival" to "Mutant rights". (One character's "Magneto Was Right" t-shirt is constantly on my buy list but I've never pulled the trigger.)



Not to mention that Jean Grey's Phoenix storyline and Magneto's very place in the mutant community were completely flipped on their head to illustrate the change in direction to an extent that probably confused a lot of kids who didn't know what to do with an X-Men series that wasn't a pure genre series. Hell, Cyclops being a perennially self-absorbed dick with an inferiority complex was brought to a head that changed a part of continuity in a way that is still relevant almost twenty years later, and for the better afaic cause Emma Frost > Jean Grey. So even the melodrama was on another level from ALL years past.

After he left the series Marvel decided that they didn't like all of this progression and just wanted to write the same X-Men stories they'd been writing since the 60s so they reversed basically everything Morrison had done and killed the vast majority of mutants to bring the question back to "Mutant survival" in a cringey event much like the event that ruined Spider-Man around the same time (Joe Quesada is a ****ing whore). X-Men has never since been interesting because there's basically an editorially mandated glass ceiling of how far X-Men can advance its own story. Joss Whedon wrote a great run directly after that was almost entirely regressive but still high quality, but since then there's been okay or even good stories but never anything of true worth as far as I know.

Morrison's run is just over 40 issues so it had quite a bit of time to develop and there's a nice, heavy omnibus that might as well be made of concrete for you to sink your teeth into. If you want to read the absolute most mature and well-realized X-Men series ever made then this is an absolute must. It's god damn brilliant and the best looking dictionary-sized thing on my shelf. Literally the only thing I'd criticize is that the art isn't exactly my favorite thing. Oh yeah and there was a retcon at the end that was fine but still kinda bull****.

https://www.amazon.com/New-X-Men-Omn.../dp/1302901966

http://readcomiconline.to/Comic/New-...e-114?id=32326

:beer::beer::beer:

I actually have a large soft spot for Jean Grey possibly because of her hair color, but when she's not written just as Cyclops' girlfriend she can be very engaging, and ****ing Phoenix god damn it. She beat Thor by proxy by beating the ever loving **** out of Firelord who'd just gone toe-to-toe with Thor in his series. But competing against Emma Frost is a losing proposition for... like, everyone? She dealt with an anti-mutant mob by giving them all orgasms. How do you top that? And I'm not sure if that was in Grant Morrison's series but I highly suspect it was because Grant Morrison.

God damn it I'm reading Berserk but now I want to reread New X-Men. Why do they both have to be so long.

Sounds really interesting. You're not allowed to hate me if I buy it and show it off though. Also, Idk who Emma Frost is, but holy fuck is she hyper sexualized in the google image search results.

Don't fix your computer.. Get this instead: https://www.instocktrades.com/TP/Mar...-PTG/MAR160918

Emma Frost is great. She's a self-absorbed super **** who's all about doing everything she wants to do and getting a boob job and **** everyone who bitches, but who still believes in mutant/human peace and is willing to do anything necessary to achieve that goal. Like Magneto but not insane. She's basically the ultimate boss bitch in all of comics. If Sansa were still here I'm sure I could get her to worship Emma Frost.

And please show it off. New X-Men is one of the apex superhero series and needs as much love as it can get even if it gets enough love to overshadow for fans everything but the 70s/80s Claremont X-Men golden age. And even then it's still on the same level, and still superior in concept. Claremont, Morrison, and Whedon are basically the holy trinity of X-Men writers. (Emma Frost is also magnificent in Whedon's run btw.)

Also, InStockTrades is fantastic. It has ridiculous deals that are never undercut by Amazon and often undercut them. The delivery time can be considerably longer, up to 2 weeks with no equivalent to Amazon Prime delivery times, but the prices are fantastic and the packaging is paranoid about protecting comics. Now that I think of it I got that omnibus from that site, so please give it your business. Too bad that the search engine is garbage.

Don't forget to mention that Emma Frost can turn herself into living diamond and beat losers to a fucking pulp when the need arises.

I mean yeah but that's kind of a stupid power. How exactly does that add to her character? I'm still not sure why Morrison did that. It feels like a Mary Sue fanfiction thing that's only not that bad because of the restriction that she can't use her psychic powers in crystal form. Well I guess it makes sense to separate her powers from Jean Grey since back in the day she was just a villainous Jean, and Emma's personality lends itself to just straight up harming people more than Jean's does. But it's still kinda stupid and forced.

TFW you check out Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men Omnibus and it's $170. Anything over a hundred is bull**** afaic. Do I look like Bill Gates?

Dude. She can become a living piece of bling, walk straight through gunfire, and crush your windpipe. That's, like, the greatest thing ever, unlike Jean Grey and Xavier, who are both rendered hilariously useless whenever a psychic-resistant bad guy appears (I swear, every five seconds it's "MY MIIIIIND!" with those losers).

Yeah, its $91 on Amazon.. Saving nearly $20 is totally worth the 2 week wait, but I'm not going to pick it up anytime soon, I just have too much other stuff to get through atm. I'll be sure to grab it if I find out it's going out of print.

I'm a little confused though, I watched a couple reviews and they said it starts at issue #114. Do they just totally drop the story from whatever was prior and be like yeah so this is XMen now? I've never understand how they weave different arcs into superhero comics.

Maybe I just need to reread the series and see the idea implemented, but it really is a random power for a psychic.

You tell em Oriphice.

Amazon can be surprising with meeting other site's deals, but it never beats InStockTrades. You'll probably be fine. I'm sure the reason I ordered off that site was because I got the same price and that was a year ago. You probably don't need to worry about ordering it right the **** now... of course I did provide that link to an online browser version. Eh? Eh?

Yes that's exactly what happened. That **** happens a lot. Just deal with it. Companies like their #1 issues and new series names. It's just a thing to boost sales and means nothing. I think that it took off from X-Men, which was a series started in the early 90s apart from Uncanny X-Men because X-Men was hot **** and the speculator boom was in full swing and X-Men was being drawn by Jim Lee who was one of the 90s god artists. You don't even need to know what happened in the issue before. In effect it's an entirely new series.

I knew Hawk was right about your dick! :laughing:

Yeah, I saw the link, but the pages don't fit on one screen and it's ANNOYING.

Also, thanks for explaining, I don't really mind that I guess, it's just confusing as hell when trying to start a series.

I mean you get what you paid for, which is nothing. It's still a valuable tool for checking out a series.

Play as her in X-Men Legends, and you'll see how well it works.

I always do.